@Vincent,I do not think the germans play tiki-taka ( i guess in its true sense).. My understanding of tiki-taka is one of a highly possession based football centered around short quick passes and movement.. One that usually is about keeping ball away from opposition.. except that na the Barca extreme per your explanation above..

While the Germans arguably utilize some of the tenets of tiki-taka (since WC 2010), I feel their overall approach is different with more direct play.. Germans will play possession game but they do it with purpose.. They are more direct with their possession play especially when attacking vs. just stroking ball side to side or backwards unnecessarily just to keep ball away from the opposition.. Their wide players often stay true to their position.

I however stand corrected..

I agree with you: the Germans adapted some aspects of tiki-taka or total football that suited their natural strengths. As I explained earlier, the endless stroking of the ball by Barca and Spain players developed after teams began parking two buses in their penalty boxes and it became necessary to move the ball around in front of that penalty box in search of gaps in the defense (hence, possession stats began increasing) and the ball-handling skills of Iniesta and Xavi and Iniesta (Germany did not have players of such characteristics). Last night, there was no need to endlessly stroke the ball in search of gaps because David Luis and co simply opened huge gaps for them to run through.

_________________Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Deco, and Messi are like good caviar, tender pine-nuts, chemical-free sea salt, and the purest of virgin olive oils, said one of the world's greatest chefs, Ferran Adria of El Bulli restaurant, Before Barca went on to wallop Madrid 3-0 at the Bernabeu.

“I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes an art. Football is like that. When I watch Barcelona, it is art” — Arsène Wenger, August 2009

This is the outcome of globalisation, where players all over the world gather in Europe because they pay the most bucks...What I saw last night was not Brazil football, but 11 Brazilians who play European type football.

Dont insult Europeans , they dont play that rubbish football like you claim. Even Stoke is not that disjointed, what you saw were 11 Brasilians suffering from identity crisis. From 1994 to 2006, Brasil have been parading players who plied their trade in Europe, all these talk about European influence is hogwash. Since 1990 they have brought in european influence into their game, especially in the area of discipline and speed. It won them the cup in 94, a final in 98 and another cup in 2002 so it has been a success.

What has transpired has been lack of innovation to take their game to the next level and the bizzare decisions of a coach still drunk on the successes of the Confed cup and as a result refused to smell a bad coffee put in front of him. Yes Fred did ok in the Confed cup, but that he is picking a shirt regularly has nothing to do with European influence...that is simply bad management of a resources from a lazy coach.

The only excuse that can be given would be that their non-participation in the qualifiers delayed the setting off of the time bomb.

More like African football with no discipline or tactical awareness for the majority of the 90 mins.

Utter laziness on the part of a coach who thought that home support and emotion was all he needed to cross the line. The only time this team tried to play anything like a tactically aware team was against Croatia...please dont mention Cameroon, that was not match, Cameroon did not come to play in this WC, all the teams rolled them over, when Cameroon balled for about 10 minutes they scored against Brasil.

This team lacked discipline and were bereft of any tactical display, i mean Hulk was rubbish , Fred was rubbish , to my amazement the two kept on making the team right from the start, not even a tactical switch nada..if that is not laziness , i dont know what to call it. Rewind the clock to 1994, Brasil came to the world cup with their captain Rai..in the first game he did not measure up..he was dropped and that was the last time anyone heard of Rai. Geez this particular misfits should not be called Selecao or whatever name it is they call their national team...they have destroyed a legacy spanning almost a century, destroyed their national pride and identity.

The only moral lesson to take away from this, is that yes Karma slapped them richly for wasting scarce resources in a country where many are going without food to host a jamboree. I hope their economy would still be in tact when they host the Olympics, tragedies like this have far and wide implications not only on the football arena , but it also goes on to affect the whole psyche of the country, inflicting such deep wounds that would traumatise the whole nation for a long time. I wish them speedy recovery.

I don't want to get too much into it.

*sits down and grabs a big cold odeku.

The blame is going to Brazil's creative guys but why????? Was it their fault that Marcelo decided to show why Mourinho would bench him for serious games at Madrid? Was it their fault that David Luiz decided to show why Mourinho chopped off psg's hand for that money they offered?

Creative guys????...what creative guys, did you see any creativity in this Brasil team. The only one who looked creative was Neymar, he was expected to create his own chances and then run into space to finish off the chances he created, that was how bad they were in that department.

These were Alapatas (butchers) from the Amazon jungle assembled by Scolari to play jungle football. The reason why the likes of Marcelo and Luiz suddenly tried to become creative player by abadoning their primary duty, is because they had none in the first place. The most limited player i have ever seen in the shirts of Brasil is the guy called Gustavo, they said Dunga was limited, compared to Gustavo Dunga was a geniuse in his day, he had a number of assist even from his DM position. The funny thing was that when they came back in the second half they had 3 quick chances which they could not take...shows how bad they were.

Agreed 100%. In the absence of Neymar, the only "creative" forces on the pitch were Marcelo and David Luiz. Everyone wants to blame David Luiz, but what the forward line of Fred, Hulk, and Oscar contribute? What did the defensive shield of Luis Gustavo and Fernandinho do to shield the defense or cover for David Luiz? What about Maicon and the other CD?

David Luis did make many forays forward in previous matches and Thiago Silva organized the defense to cover for him, but in this match that did not happen. Basically, there were too many passengers in the team who should have been dropped after the first 1-2 matches. Probably the extreme pressure on the players did not help

_________________Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Deco, and Messi are like good caviar, tender pine-nuts, chemical-free sea salt, and the purest of virgin olive oils, said one of the world's greatest chefs, Ferran Adria of El Bulli restaurant, Before Barca went on to wallop Madrid 3-0 at the Bernabeu.

“I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes an art. Football is like that. When I watch Barcelona, it is art” — Arsène Wenger, August 2009

This is the outcome of globalisation, where players all over the world gather in Europe because they pay the most bucks...What I saw last night was not Brazil football, but 11 Brazilians who play European type football.

You know your football

_________________"Today we remember Nigeria and Africa football legend, Late Coach Stephen Okechukwu Keshi who passed on, on june 7th 2016. Thank you for the memories ‘The Big Boss.’ We can never forget you"............Kanu Nwankwo

This is the outcome of globalisation, where players all over the world gather in Europe because they pay the most bucks...What I saw last night was not Brazil football, but 11 Brazilians who play European type football.

You know your football

You both know 5h!t about football!

_________________The weak or the strong, who got it going onYou're dead wrong

They might need a Mateus, Breitner, Rumminegge, or Netzer when they face Argentina or Holland.

Maybe Germany is enough of a strong collective outfit to still win? Perhaps. I can't tell.

Cheers, Mate

True. I am desperate to see how Germany would do against a formidable tier 1 teams like Spa.. err Ita err Fra errr Bra err Hol eerr Argentina! I am really curious to see how this German team would do against an Argentinian team with Messi, Mascherano, Romero, Demichelis, Maxi Rodriguez, di Maria or Aguero in a World Cup game.

I don't see how Germany could beat Argentina/Holland without Matthäus, Breitner, Netzer (the bench warmer of 74?), or Rummenigge. Obviously Germany is individually inferior to Argentina or Holland and unfortunately cannot boast of players like Romero, Demichelis, Kuyt or Martins Indie in their starting eleven.

_________________"If two grown men can't make a pervert happy for a few minutes in order to watch a film about zombies, then maybe we should all just move to Iran!"

Look, I didn't say that other tier 1 teams overall are stronger than Germany. Clearly it doesn't look like the case. But we've all noted that so far Germany's tier 1 teams haven't bought a tough game.

You know Argentina is going to play catenaccio. Sabella knows his teams limitations. He reminds me of Bilardo and 1990 Argentina. Obviously 1990 Germany also comes to mind.

All I'm saying is that Germany is going to have to work hard to crack that Argentinian defense. Messi will probably play deeper back as well, playing for the team, rather than the team to him. This has has been the case for the last 2 games.

I know it's boring hearing me repeat it, but in a game like that, it would help to have that iconic game breaker. That's all.

I can't believe what I saw. Brazilian defenders were chasing the ball, not opponents. Especially in their final 1/3.

Professionals do that at this level? Luiz panics and starts to roam as an attacker. When he's supposed to anchor the defense and organize shape?

Even my wife laughed and joked that they were paid off. Kids play smarter defense.

Catastrophic mental implosion. I've never seen anything like this in a top game between top nations this deep in the WC.

Cheers, Mate

Watched again and fernandinho was as bad as Luiz.. Couldn't believe what I saw.

They were all horrible..all of them bar none..even the ones pretending to be trying to play were bad even in their pretense.

The irony of it all was that they came back in the second half and they had 3 glaring chances in addition to the one Oscar scored, these were not half chances , they were full chances. Makes you wonder what would have been if they had taken even two of those chances...aghh let me not ponder too long, it would get into Luiz head and he would stay upfront permanently.

_________________"There is big pressure at this club as you cannot be like the manager at Arsenal and ask for five years to try and to win one trophy" - Jose Mourinho

.... I believe in God. I try to be a good man so He can have a bit of time to give me a hand when I need it - Jose Mourinho